Junius Worth
David Kerr
Charlie Nehl
gawlowskib
Andrew Martin
Jonathan C. Mitchell
johnczech
Daniel Marino
Michael Schwartze
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Spencer Schneier
William J. Tasker
There are two guys who have gotten off to surprisingly hot starts, but within the last week, one has hit the DL while the other suffered a head injury and is going in for testing. The two players that I am talking about are Nolan Reimold and Josh Thole. Each are relatively young, and started off the year showing promising signs for the future. I hope for both of them that they bounce back and get on track but I will take a closer look at each player after the jump.
Nolan Reimold, a former top 100 prospect, showed a promising first season with the Orioles as a 25 year old in 2009. After that though, his numbers really declined. In that 2009 season he hit .279/.365/.466 with 15 homeruns and 8 stolen bases in 411 plate appearances. His 2010 and 2011 seasons were a different story though as he hit .235/.314/.415 in 436 plate appearances. Reimold has gotten things back on track though so far this year. After a slow start, he caught red hot and is now hitting .313/.333/.627 with 5 homeruns and 6 doubles. He does have a K% on the higher end (20.3%) and a very low BB% (2.9%) so his discipline is defiantly one thing he needs to improve on.
Unfortunately, Reimold hit the DL about a week ago with a herniated disk in his neck. The injury does not appear to be too serious though as he should return when his 15 days are up. He is scheduled for a short rehab stint before rejoining the team on Sunday. Fortunately, the injury does not look to serious and hopefully he can continue this performance which the red hot Orioles will need to keep winning as often as they are.
Thole suffered his injury much more recently but it comes at a time where he has earned the Mets starting catching duties and is having a nice year. Thole got his season off to a real nice start where at points he had an average in the mid .300s and an OBP just under .400. He has declined a little in the last few days, but he is still hitting a solid .282/.356/.372 with one homerun. The 25 year old catcher has posted solid offensive numbers in the past, but not as the starting catcher.
Thole left Monday’s game after taking a shoulder to the face from Ty Wigginton at the plate. He had to leave the game but was able to get up under his own power. There has been no word on how serious the injury is but I hopefully it is not a concussion because that can often be quite a serious injury.
Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis Tagged: | Baltimore Orioles, Josh Thole, New York Mets, Nolan Reimold, Ty Wigginton
